CALANGUTE: The State government needs to stop sending garbage from Margao to the Saligao Garbage Treatment Plant (GTP), Saligao MLA Kedar Naik said on Saturday.
Naik said Saligao residents have been agitated ever since garbage from Sonsoddo was being brought to the GTP here following the HC order.
“There is stiff opposition from people in Saligao. No means no. We had met the Chief Minister and he had said it was a temporary measure. When the GTP was set up, people of Saligao co-operated because it was only for North Goa. But now they’re bringing garbage from all over Goa. We’re not the dustbin of Goa,” he said, adding that the matter is expected to be discussed in the Assembly on Monday.
Meanwhile, Calangute MLA and former waste management minister Michael Lobo on Saturday said the GTP might ‘collapse’ due to overloading.
Addressing media persons, Lobo said the GTP is already working above its installed capacity. “Because of excess garbage at the GTP, surrounding villages in Saligao, Pilerne and Candolim are already complaining about the stink. When the GTP was built it, was only meant for the Bardez coastal belt. Then it became for North Goa and now garbage from Ponda, Margao and Mormugao is also being brought there. The capacity at first was 100 tonnes per day, and it was increased to 200 tonnes, but now it receives 250 tonnes per day. If it goes on, it will collapse,” he said.
He said around 24 tonnes of garbage is being brought from Sonsoddo to the Saligao GTP everyday, following a HC order. “When I was waste management minister, I had initiated the garbage treatment plant at Margao. The plant is ready. It can treat the waste from Margao,” he said.
Lobo said if the waste continues to be brought to the GTP at Saligao, the people there will come on the road and block the trucks. “We will not allow this,” he said.
